Initial Idea 2

The second idea that popped straight into my head was to use the song Home by Michael Buble and to use my cousin Shane as he is a singer and does some acting. Shane has also recorded himself singing Home on his albums so I will use his version of Home instead of Michael Buble's version. I have decided that out of the 2 ideas that this one would be more appropriate as the resources and person are easily available for me to use as and when I want. I will use a video camera to enable me to record the music video and a tripod so that when filming is being done the video is still.

The first bit of filming will be of Shane in his studio miming to Home into a microphone and wearing headphones. I will do 4 different filmings of this and then choose which looks/works better and anaylse them. I will then start filming the other bits for the video which include him infront of a mirror getting ready for a gig, writing a letter, looking at previous letters, 4 shot screen with him in each one singing a line in each box.

Initial Idea 1

My first idea was to do a music video using the song "Apologize" sung by One Republic. The song was a major hit internationally, reaching number-one in 16 countries. As well as staying at number-one for eight consecutive weeks on the Billboard Pop chart. The song charted in the top three on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent thirteen weeks at number-one in Canada. The song has sold over 4,270,000 digital downloads in the United States to date. The release date for this song was October 29th, 2007.

It is widely believed that this song is about the issue of suicide."Im holding on your rope got me ten feet of the ground","you tell me that you need me then you go and cut me down". So from this interpretation I then started getting ideas into my head of what I would like to include in my music video. I wanted it to be about three best friends, two men and one woman. Man 1 is with the woman but at the same time she is dating his best friend man 2. At the beginning of the video you'd see man 1 arguing with the woman and then storming off. The next shot would be both the men shouting at each other and fighting outside in the street. Man 1 would be singing. The cuts would be of man 1 singing and then flashbacks (in black and white) to the times where he was happy with the woman: pushing her on the swings in the park, walking holding hands, having a meal in a restaurant, watching a film indoors etc. Towards the end of the song, man 1 would hang himself in his and his best friends house, you wouldn't actually see the hanging but you would see either the feet of the man or the shadow of the hanging. It would then end with man 2 and the woman finding man 1 dead.

Camera angles, shots, editing and mise-en-scene that would be used:

• 360 degree turn
• Long shots
• Medium close-ups
• Bird's eye view
• Zoom in
• Zoom out
• Pan left
• Pan right
• 180 degree turn
• Fade
• Dissolve
• Flash
• Clothing: Man 1- white t-shirt, blue jeans, black hoody, white trainers.
• Clothing: Man 2- black t-shirt, blue jeans, navy blue hoody, black trainers.
• Clothing: Woman- smart dress with cardigan.
• Locations: My house, the park, the woods, bluewater.

I decided not to go along with this idea as I came up with a much better idea.

Research - Bands

To help me understand music videos more in depth, I will look at music videos of the 3 main genres (Rock, Pop and R'n'B) and anaylse them.


Rock Music Video - Papa Roach - Scars (group of 4 males)
Papa Roach is an American rock band from California and have sold more than 10 million album copies worldwide. They started their career in 1993 and are still persuing as of today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHbNU9WuVgw

• Establishing shot- arch and lead singer - close-up.
• 180 degree turn to show surroundings.
• Long shots of band.
• Zoom in and out of band.
• Bird's eye view and 90 degree turn of lead singer.
• Close-up of instruments.
• Worm's eye view of band.
• Pan right and left.
• Mid close-up of band members.
• Side views of band members.
• End - Long shot and pan left of band and then a blank screen
• Mid close-up of lead singer and girlfriend.
• Pan right.
• Close-ups of people in house.
• Cuts between band and the narrative.
• Clothing - black/dark, jeans.
• Scenery - dark, dirty, empty, smoke.
• Tattoos.
• Performing where house got burnt down.
• Clothing - bright colours when in the house.
• Scenery - bright colours used in the narrative parts.
• Party - everyone having a good time then mood changes - lighting becomes dark, scenery changes - dark, empty, dirty and smoke.
  
  

Pop Music Video - Girls Aloud - Jump (group of 5 girls)
Girls Aloud are an English-Irish pop girl group that were created through the ITV1 talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk7zhB_m4gc

• Consists of the group and snippets from the film Love Actually and this is where the editing takes place.
• Zoom in and out and close-ups when each girl is singing.
• Individual medium shots of members of the group or 2 at a time.
• Establishing shot = climbing through the window in the dark with torches.
• Video is lively and goes with the song title.
• Members dancing to show liveliness.
• When the music slows down, the room in the video becomes dark and the girls are sitting on the table being calm and do slow actions.
• When the music speeds up again the video becomes lively and brightly coloured again.
• Medium close-ups are used quite alot.
• To add effect to the girls singing, a small wind machine is used to make the hair blow.
  

R'n'B Music Video - Jagged Edge - Let's Get Married (group of 4 males)

Jagged Edge is an American R'n'B group and consists of 4 black male members. They have been a group since 1995.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F94Wsif2To

• Establishing shot is a bird's eye-view of a chandelier at a wedding and gradually the camera travelling downwards towards the groom and bride.
• Flashes are used to make cuts between the group and the story of the video.
• Close-ups of members singing.
• Worm's eye-view of the group in own clothes and then blue suits at the Wedding.
• Video matches the song title.
• About 2 minutes in, a guy is rapping and the video changes to a bright orange light in the far background and the rest of the video blue.
• Content mood.
• 3 main shots: 1) At Wedding. 2) At after party. 3) In own clothes in middle of a building.

Brief

For A2 coursework, we were given a list of 13 various briefs that we had to choose from. I narrowed my choice down to a music video and a film trailer. Obviously I could not do both so I had to make a decision. I decided to go with the idea of doing a music video as I have the resources available to produce a music video. However, I researched both briefs to make sure that I wanted to stick with producing a music video.

Film Trailer:

• Show snippets of the film which are not in chronological order (the parts that make you want to watch it).
• Music.
• Close-ups of a focus of a particular scene.
• Usually end with the date of release and the title.
• Sounds effects - often loud.
• Sometimes voiceovers.
• Quite short, last approximately between 1 and 2 minutes.
• Show the locations, characters and actions to make you want to watch it.
• Sometimes feature the names of the actors at the beginning or during the trailer.
• Review quotes.
• Genre goes with editing. Eg, Action film = quick and sharp cutting and loud, fast music when building up to the climax which normally happens near the end of the trailer. Romantic film = slow and steady cutting.

Music Video:

• Majority of the time tells a story.
• Different angles and shots used to capture emotion and scenery.
• Black and White.
• Colour.
• If a fast song then the editing is quite quick.
• If a s slow song then the editing is quite slow.
• Can be energetic.
• Different genres of the music match the actions/emotions etc presented in the video. Eg, Rock music video = dark colours, death icons, depressed faces etc.
• Instruments being played are often shot by using close-ups.
• Close-ups of the band.

I decided to stick with producing a music video as I feel more confident with that choice and have lots of ideas to put forward. I feel more confident with this form of media because I am more familiar with music videos and have watched programmes that go behind the scenes of producing a music video. From a young age I have always been interested in the music industry and from this my music video consumption is quite high. I don't really have a particular taste is music I just like all music in general.

The Brief: A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following:

• A website homepage for the band.
• A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package).
• A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

The two that I am going to do will be a cover for its release as part of a digipak and a magazine advertisement for the digipak.